


A reason to come back

by purgatorycitizen



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Fluff, Inspiration, M/M, Slash
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-11-18
Updated: 2013-11-18
Packaged: 2018-01-01 23:41:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,962
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1049964
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/purgatorycitizen/pseuds/purgatorycitizen
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>« That’s the same one you used to trap Jackson. » Deaton says. <br/> Stiles moves his fingers along the shelf, studying each of the jars, before he comes to one that is set behind the others. <br/>« What does this one do? »<br/>« That’s the most rare powder I’ve managed to get hold of so far. It can restore anything to the way it was meant to be. »<br/> « Can I? » Behind him, Scott asks « What would you need that for? » <br/>But Deaton nods and says « Be careful what you use it for. » And Stiles slips it into his pocket.  <br/>Fifteen minutes later he is walking through the woods towards the Hale house.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A reason to come back

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [AU in which Stiles uses magic to restore the Hale house](https://archiveofourown.org/external_works/30992) by brokenhalelujah. 



The Hale house is big, old and ruined. There is a strong smell of burned wood, dust and mold. The front side of the house is severely damaged and on the entrance door there’s still the symbol of the alpha pack, but that’s an old story now.  
Derek Hale left Beacon Hills three weeks ago without saying a word to anyone, and this hurts more than the boy expected. He’s always had feelings for the werewolf and now he just can’t let go and get over it.  
Stiles wanted to be his reason to stay. Apparently he wasn’t, but he’s sure that Derek will come back one day and the boy wants to give him a reason to stay. That’s why he went to Deaton.

It’s a cold night. It’s the first Sunday of December and there’s an incredible silence in the woods. He’s standing in front of the old Hale house, keeping the little bag with the rare powder in his right hand. Stiles knows that this thing is precious and he knows even better what to do with it. 

The house is just a skeleton now, made with pieces of woods, spider webs and old memories and the loft is not an option anymore, not after the last events with Jennifer and the alpha pack and when he’ll return, Derek will need a new place to live. 

« What are you doing here? » Peter Hale appears from the darkness and it’s creepy as usual.  
« I’m doing something for Derek. »  
« I know this smell. You have something very precious in your pocket, don’t you? » The smell of that powder is something special and the fact that the boy is there, in front of the old Hale house means only one thing « You can do whatever you want with this and you want to use it to rebuild the house of my family. »  
« Yes. » He’s not lying. His heartbeat is calm and controlled but his hands are slightly shaking.  
« Why do you want to do this? »  
« So Derek will have a home when he will come back. » Because he will come back. 

Stiles Stilinski smiles to the werewolf and that means that he’s done talking, now he has something more important to do.  
He starts walking around the house, slowly and focused on his purpose. He’s walking and spreading the powder on the ground to make a perfect circle around the building, like that time outside the club.  
Stiles knows that making this is not enough, he needs to believe that the magic will work and he’s also going to believe that he really has a spark if it’s necessary to rebuilt this house.  
Stiles feels something while making the circle: it tingles from the top of his fingers and there’s this feeling of warmth inside his chest, like a little fire around the heart. It burns and consumes but it’s a feeling that Stiles embraces completely, without being scared.  
He can feel it, Peter can feel it and maybe even Derek – wherever he is right now, can feel it.  
And suddenly fireflies come all around him, and a wolf howls from the woods. And Stiles can see in front of him all these old memories come to life: Laura Hale is smiling to a young Derek on the porch, Talia Hale is cooking dinner and she laughs at his brother Peter when he tries to bake cookies. There are babies who are running on the grass and Cora is reading a book under a tree.  
The cracks on the walls are disappearing, the smell of burned wood is fading and the symbol of the alpha is no longer on the door. The glass of the windows is not broken anymore, there’s no hole on the roof and Stiles can even feel that the ghosts are not here anymore, just the echo of the memories of a family.  
And all the pictures are inside the frames, the drawings stuck on the fridge and the huge collection of books who belonged to Derek.  
And there is a lonely werewolf outside the house, incapable to say anything and he’s crying.

« Peter, are you okay? »  
« Don’t tell anyone that I cried, or I will rip your throat with my teeth. »And then he adds « Thank you. »  
« Go home Peter. » And then Stiles goes to his jeep. 

When Stiles arrives at home, his dad is waiting for him in the living room: it’s late, outside is cold and he called him at least five times. He wants to yell at him, be angry and worried like any other single father with a son who runs with the werewolves but Stiles looks different. He’s sad and lost but there’s something else.  
« What have you done kid? »  
« I rebuilt the old Hale house dad, so they have a place to call home. » He could have used the powder for anything else, but he decided to use it to rebuilt their house. They needed it more than anything.  
« I’m proud of you. » Stiles hugs his father. He’s not ready to admit that he’s crying because he misses Derek Hale and the sheriff doesn’t ask when he feels the tears on his face. 

 

**Las Vegas, Nevada**

Derek didn’t expect a call from Peter. He’s the only one who has the number of his phone and it’s really unexpected to receive a call from his uncle at three o’clock in the morning, especially because at first he thinks that something bad happened in Beacon Hills.

« What do you want? »  
« Come home. »  
« I don’t think it’s a good… »  
Peter doesn’t let him finish « Come home. For once don’t ask, there’s something you should see. »  
« What are you talking about? »  
« Come home. » And then he hangs up.

Peter is weird and creepy and he doesn’t have any logic in his actions, at least most of the times. During the call he was different: Peter was determined like he never was before.

« Who was it? » Asks Cora.  
« Peter. We need to go back. »  
« Why? »  
« I don’t know, something important I think. »

Three days later Derek Hale and Cora Hale are in Beacon Hills. Three weeks feel like an eternity when you're away from home and the werewolf is so nervous that he can barely control his claws on the steering wheel. He can feel all these familiar smells, like the coffee of the diner on Main Street and the mowed grass of the lacrosse field and he can feel the scent of Stiles while he’s walking on the street with Scott and Isaac.  
He smells of rain, white musk soap and sadness. Usually he smells of hope and sunlight. A little part of Derek wants to go out of the car and go to them but the fear is too much and he’s not ready to meet them. 

That boy is young, fearless and impulsive. He’s stubborn, generous and brave. For being a human, Stiles is a fighter and he’s always in the line of fire and he doesn’t think about the fact that he’s vulnerable and he can’t heal like a werewolf.  
Derek cares about him, he’s pack after all. This is not the only reason but saying it loud means that it will become real and the werewolf is not ready yet. He will probably never be ready to admit that Stiles is important to him and not just as a friend. 

Derek drives the Camaro to the woods, at the burned remains of his family house and he doesn’t understand why Peter wants to meet him right there. The reason becomes pretty clear when he parks the car in front of the house. 

Peter Hale is standing on the porch but there isn’t a burned house in front of him. The house is completely rebuilt, like it was before the fire.  
There are the same wooden floors, the same red door and even the same white curtains at every window of the first floor. Derek can feel the scent of his old books and Laura’s clothes. God, the house smells like family, like pack and it’s like the fire has never happened.  
And it smells of Isaac, Scott and Stiles because apparently Peter invited them over more than once. And it’s perfect in every possible way.  
Derek wants to say something but there are no words to describe how he feels right now, looking at his house rebuilt from the remains of the fire.  
His family is not here anymore and they can’t come back but the memories are still there, in every piece of wood, inside the frames and the echoes of laughs and tears. There will be always there, inside the house and his heart to remind him that it’s not necessary to be a powerful alpha to have something precious like a pack and a family.  
Because sometimes the only thing you need to do is be brave. 

« How is it even possible? » Asks Cora.  
« They’re not here anymore but he gave us back our memories, our home. » Says Peter with a little smile on his face. It’s a honest smile, full of gratitude « He used this rare and special powder which can restore anything to the way it was meant to be. »  
« Who? »  
« Stiles. He rebuilt our house so we can have a place to call home. And he did this for you so you could have a reason to come back. »

That’s the moment when the world of Derek Hale falls down. He believed he was doing the right thing when he left the town with his sister, and more than anything he believed that he had no reason to stay. He was wrong.  
It’s just a house in the middle of the woods but it means so much to him, Peter and Cora, it’s all they have left of their family. When he enters the house it’s like going back in time and looking again at his mother and Laura talking in the kitchen when they were making dinner or hearing again the laughs of his little brothers while they were playing in the living room.  
Everything is just the same: all the photos of his family are inside the frames, the drawings of the kids are stuck to the wall and the fridge and in his old room there are all the books, the CDs and even all the papers he wrote during his high school years.  
There is a mix of happiness and sadness inside him. It’s not the same without the other members of his family but for some reason this is a new start to rebuilt the Hale pack and a new beautiful family, because he’s not alone anymore.  
He had a reason to stay. He had a fucking reason to stay, more than one. 

« Why did he do this? »  
« You are an idiot if you don’t understand the reason why he used that precious gift for you. » Because really, if he doesn’t understand the reason, he’s probably the most stupid werewolf on earth.  
« Oh. »

 

Stiles knows that Derek could not come back but he’s not really ready for this. He’s smart, funny and after all this time he is quite expert on every possible supernatural threat, he could even fight some monsters using some spell and a baseball bat. But he’s not ready to admit that he will never come back. 

After a nice and funny afternoon playing videogames and watching a baseball match, Scott goes home and Stiles starts to prepare dinner for him and his father. Twenty minutes later he is lying on the couch in the living room, watching an episode of Primeval and waiting for his dad because he’s late, as usual.  
He's not expecting visitors and he definitely doesn’t expect to hear someone knocking at the door. It could be Isaac or Scott, maybe there’s some sort of monster in town and they need his help to kick his ass and really, he’s not in the mood for hunting.

« Scott really, I’m not in the mood for catching some monster and ... » He’s not Scott.  
« I’m not Scott. »  
« I can see that. »

He doesn’t expect to see Derek Hale outside his house. The werewolf left Beacon Hills almost a month ago, without saying goodbye to anyone and he probably was willing not to come back.  
He’s still the same: tall, dark and handsome. His eyes are still a mix of hazelnut and green – so hard to describe – and when he’s a werewolf they are light blue because he’s not an alpha anymore. Not that it changes something for Stiles. He loves him, it doesn't matter if he's a beta or an alpha or even a monster. Yeah, he loves him and this is scary as hell. And kanimas and alpha packs. 

« So, you saw the house. » It’s not a question.  
« You rebuilt my family house Stiles. You used the powder to rebuilt my house. Why? »  
And it’s so easy to tell him the reason « I wanted to give you a reason to come back. I wanted to give you a place to call home because the loft sucks dude. But most of all I wanted to make you happy Derek Hale, because you deserve it. » He’s talking too fast but who cares? « And because I love you. » 

Derek freezes when he hears the last sentence. He wants to believe his words, so why is it so difficult to believe that someone could love him so much to rebuild his house?  
Stiles is young, maybe too much. But he’s strong, smart and brave and he loves Derek, even if his eyes are blue because he killed an innocent girl. He loves him so much that he used his powder to rebuild the Hale house and give him a place to call home. 

« You could love anyone else. Believe me. You deserve someone better than me. » Says Derek trying to ignore the sadness in Stiles’ eyes « But you chose me, you want me. And it’s impossible for me to believe that I could be so lucky to have you. »  
« But I’m here, just in front of you and I’m saying that I love you. And I’m asking to myself if it’s possible that you love me at least half as much as I love you. »  
« I do. I love you. More than half. » 

And then Derek kisses him. Because he doesn’t want to run anymore and because Stiles is Stiles and even if his soul mate is a skinny kid who talks too much, Derek thinks he can handle it.  
Because Stiles is his other half, because he had the feeling of being incomplete until he came back and smelled his scent on the street. 

« So, you are here to stay. Right? »  
« Yes. I’ll stay. » 

« I guess you are back in town. » Sheriff Stilinski is not blind and he’s not stupid. He knows why his son rebuilt the Hale house, and the reason is not only that he has a huge heart and wants to help everyone.  
So, his son is kissing Derek Hale, former suspect in a murder case, way too older than him and a werewolf. His underage son is kissing Derek because he’s in love with him, and considering the way the werewolf is looking at him, the sheriff is sure that the feeling is mutual.  
« Uh, yes sir. » Derek Hale is completely scared.  
« So, you two have a thing. »  
« I… Yes sir. »  
« I have a gun, you know? »  
« Yes sir. »  
« And I’m learning a lot of things about werewolves. »  
« I understand sir. »  
« Don’t leave again or I’ll will chase you and believe me when I say that there will be no safe place on earth if you hurt my son. »  
« Yes sir. »  
« And you're staying for dinner. » He’s smiling. Oh, family is a gift « We have to talk about a lot of thing, and I have to show you my guns. »  
« Guns? »  
The sheriff smiles again. Yeah, a gift. 

 

**Five years later**  
Because sometimes the only thing you need is be brave. It’s just another day with Stiles but he comes back from college today and Derek is nervous. He’s waiting at the arrival gate in the airport with Scott, Isaac, Peter, Cora and the sheriff. They’re all there for Stiles and because Derek is ready to be brave another time and do the next step.  
It’s funny watching him: Derek is walking around, nervous and scared like a teenager when is going to ask for a date to the boy of his dream. He’s playing with that little velvet blue box since four hours and he looks at the arrival board every two minutes. 

« Dude, try to stay calm. »  
« Really Derek, you should sit and relax! »

A growl is the only answer that Isaac and Scott can have from the werewolf. Twenty minutes, a lot of growls and seven cups of coffee later, the plane is finally landed and Stiles can hug is family and come back home. And when he looks at Derek he smiles like a kid on Christmas day because really, he misses him so much. 

« Dude, you look weird. »  
« No… I need to say something to you. »  
« Oh. » That’s never good. 

And then Derek is on his knees, in the middle of the arrival gate and all the people are looking at them, a few of them are even making a video with the phone. His father smiles and thinks that Claudia would be so happy to see Stiles and Derek together, Cora has a camera and the others are just waiting. 

« Will you marry me? »  
« Yes. Yes. Yes. » 

Scott smiles at his best friend and Derek, kissing each other like an old married couple. And they just smells right, like family and happiness and hope. 

« Ready to go home? »

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks to my beta Elena because she's always there to help me. Thanks to person who made the photoset, such an amazing summary, really.  
> It's small and fluff and maybe not so good but I hope you like it, comment and feedback are always appreciated. Sorry for eventual errors but seriously italian people and english are not always a good combination XD


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